Feb. I, 1894. J THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
DR. VOELCKER ON INDIAN 
AGillCULTURE. 
In previous articles we have dealt more especially 
with Dr. Yoelcker's remarks and conclusions regard- 
ing the principal details of agricultural practice in 
India, and we shall now proceed to discuss his re- 
commendations for its improvement. It may be well 
to note in passing that he is of opinion that the ryot 
is very ignorant in regard to the selection and change 
of seed, as well as most improvident in this respect. 
He accordingly reconnaends that the Government 
should undertake seed-growing on an extensive soale. 
" There ought to bu not only experimental farms," 
be says, " but seed-growing farms, where the 
ryot could buy pure and good seed at a moderate 
cost"; and "not only must the seed itself be 
available, but encouragement and facilities must be 
given for the purchase of good seed." To this end he 
recommends that the system of making loans for the 
purchase of seed should be extended and developed in 
ordinary times, as well as in times of drought. 
This of itself is an extensive programme for our 
Agricultural Departments to undertake, and it is to 
be hoped we shall sea some genuine effort put 
forth to secure the benefits that should result from 
the adoption of a really good system of seed sup- 
ply. In connection with this subject it is worth 
while to quote another statement of the learned 
Doctor, to the effect that an impetus can, in some 
cases, be given to the extended cultivation of re- 
munerative crops " by the adoption of better 
modes of cultivation or of manufacture " ; and again: 
" I believe that good may be done, also, in increasing 
the variety of crops grown, and in obviating thereby the 
placing of so much dependence on one crop alone." 
" Improvement," he states in another place, " both in 
crops and in their cultivation, may be effected 
by a transference of the methods of one county 
or locality to another, and he mentions nnmsrous 
instances where local Indian practices might be 
advantageously transferred from one district to 
another, observing that "the practice of other coun- 
tries, as seen in the case of the many imported 
crops now common in India, as also in the plant- 
ing of sugarcane, may o(ten be usefully adopted." 
Dr. Voelcker's main cooclusion, however, is that 
though in some parts of the country the agricul- 
tural practice is so good as to leave little room for 
improvement, in others there is considerable scope 
for it; whilst we have demonstrated, by a detailed 
examination of his remarks on certain specific items 
of practice, that the scope for improvement is on 
his own showing much wider, and that the subject 
imperatively demands attention, Still, be is probably 
correct in saying that the first effort at improve- 
ment in the more backward districts should take 
the form of instruction in the better prac- 
tices of the most advanced Indian agriculture, 
except in those most important matters with which 
we have already dealt, viz., the management of life- 
stock, the supply of manure, the tillage of land, and 
the supply of moisture for the sustenance of the 
crops. The main difticulties in the way of improve- 
ment doubtless are the prevailing ignorance of possi- 
bilities, and tba want of power to appreciate those 
possibilties. Dr. Yoelcker tells us that our Agricul- 
tural Departments themselves have not at present 
this knowledge, nor are they so organised and equipped 
as to be able to properly study the possibilities of 
improvement, which it should be their duty to 
demonstrate to the people. Another difficulty is that 
education has not yet reached the masses, while the 
tendency of education in the past has been in too 
purely literary a direction that draws the rising 
generation avray from the land. Again, " the con- 
dition of the cultivating classes, the peculiar 
circumstances under which husbandry is carried on, 
the relatioma of the State to the people, and ma iy 
other factors, have to be taken into consideration " 
before suggestions for the improvement of Indian 
agriculture can have a reasonable chance of being 
carried oat. Agricultural education and organised 
agricultural enquiry are named as the means of 
overcoming these uitiicultiea ; and wo propose to say 
a few words regarding each. We shall first of all deal 
with the latter agency, reserving our remarks oa 
education. In the matter of agricultural enquiry, 
then, Dr. Voelcker sub-diviies the subject into 
practical enquiry, scientific enquiry, and enquiry by 
means of experimental farms. The former must, he 
says, precede both the latter, and he defines it aa 
to the obtaining of knowledge respecting agricultural 
practice " as it now is. of the practical issues involved, 
of the conditions under which it is carried on, and 
of the rationale of existinji practice. " Before any 
improvement in the agriculture of a country can be 
effected," he writes, " the first preliminary is that a 
knowledge of the country, its conditions, and its 
needs, be obtained. I may also say that, as regards 
India, comparatively little is known of its agricul- 
tural methods, and they have only been, so far, the 
subject of casual and isolated inquiry by individuals. 
—Indian Aijriculturist. 
Loc.\L TEA-PLiNTEKs (says the S. of I. Observer) 
do not seem to be yet aware of the fait that their 
moaopoly in the Simth Indi* markets will sbortl/ 
bacome a thing of the past. Mr. lip'.ou is a ftrong 
man, and men who go in for the grocery pouod- 
paoket line wi 1 eiiortly wo fancy, be iuclini d to be 
abns've when this gentlemiu'a name is mentioned. 
The flavour of hiii tei may perhaps rival i*s oheapueas, 
but a combination of the two is formidable. 
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